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Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have played down the idea Ferrari gained a meaningful advantage by running laps at the new Madring circuit on a filming day, after McLaren raised questions about the visit. McLaren boss Andrea Stella said Ferrari’s run came “as a surprise” and while it broke no rules, “possibly a little bit of an advantage” could be gained from having references. Hamilton insisted conditions meant there was little to learn, saying: “It was very, very dusty… and there was no grip.”
Isack Hadjar says Red Bull still needs to “dig” for more performance because the team is “lacking competitiveness” compared with Mercedes and Ferrari, despite what he described as “good progress” with the RB22. Hadjar said: "We're still not where I want to be. There are still a few areas where we're lacking competitiveness compared to Ferrari and Mercedes, so we still need to dig, but it's definitely good progress."
McLaren technical director for applied engineering Neil Houldey says the team has smaller upgrades coming in the next races and is targeting a potentially more substantial package for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, after its latest update helped deliver a step at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Houldey said: "At the moment, we've got smaller upgrades arriving at the next sequence of events, and then potentially something more substantial for Baku. After that, it really will depend on whether we find something substantial in aero after the summer break, and whether we think there's value in doing an end-of-season package or fully switch to next year's car."
Williams team principal James Vowles says the team’s “positive changes are masked” despite its on-track results as Formula 1 begins the summer shutdown. Vowles said: "Much of the positive changes are masked, there are strong developments that will help year to year. We'll return energised and ready to finish the year strong."
Formula 1’s Q2 2026 earnings showed a sharp drop in revenue and profit after a reduced race schedule, with Liberty Media reporting revenue down 38% to $764m and operating income down 61% to $73m. The figures were distorted by having only five races in the quarter versus nine a year ago, after calendar reshuffles, while team payments also fell to $316m from $513m. F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said F1 will “have more sprint races next year” to “increment the revenue stream”, but added it cannot be “every grand prix” because “it’s important” to keep “scarcity”.
Charles Leclerc says he would be “happy” for Mercedes teenager Kimi Antonelli to win the 2026 world championship if neither he nor Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton can stop him. Leclerc said: "I'm not thinking about the championship just yet; I want to win another race. The work I'm putting in is paying off. If Ferrari didn't win the title, I'd be happy for Kimi to win it. He's incredibly enthusiastic – it reminds me of myself when I made my debut."
Lando Norris says he thinks McLaren can win more races this season but is not confident at every circuit because the car is still not strong enough in some areas, after his Hungarian Grand Prix victory. Norris said: "Of course, I'm optimistic for the future, and I think we can win more races, but we have good competition, and there are still plenty of races I'm not confident in because the car is not to the standard that it needs to be in certain areas."
Toto Wolff says McLaren have “definitely done a step” with their MCL40 upgrades but warned against overreacting to their pace in Hungary because the Hungaroring has suited them in recent years. Wolff said: "When you ask the artificial intelligence who would be the favourites in Budapest, the artificial intelligence is going to say McLaren, because they were the dominant team here in the last few years. So definitely one of the good tracks for them, and not very good for us. So we need to be careful not to swing from everyone is suddenly competitive, to a team is suddenly not competitive. I think they've definitely done a step."
Charles Leclerc says Madring’s banked La Monumental corner can become one of the most iconic turns on the Formula 1 calendar, after Ferrari’s filming day at the Madrid circuit that will host the Spanish Grand Prix in September. Leclerc said: "It's a very, very special corner. It's a corner where I feel, in qualifying, we'll have to, I'll say it in a polite way, but we'll have to be very brave because it's going to be on the limit. So that's going to be really cool. I do believe it can become one of the most iconic corners of the season, especially once the grandstand is built."
Haas driver Ollie Bearman said it was “flattering” to hear rumours linking him with a Red Bull seat, but insisted his focus is on what he is doing with Haas. Bearman said: "First of all, it's quite flattering to hear things like that, to [be linked] with a team like Red Bull who are incredibly successful, and to be connected with them in any way, even if it's just rumours, is very nice. But, like I said, it's just rumours, and I'm fully focused on what I'm doing here with Haas at the moment."
George Russell says he stays calm amid criticism by focusing on what will make him faster and trusting that his recent struggles are down to his Mercedes car rather than his driving. Russell said: "I think what helps me through is focusing on the things that will make me go faster. Reading negative press or social media, or getting frustrated by media questions, yeah, those things don't bother me because I need to put all of my focus on myself and my team, on how I can go faster. I feel very resilient to this external noise. Because I know the reason when I don't perform is that something isn't quite working with the machine, not with my driving."
Valtteri Bottas has qualified for the UCI Gravel World Championship after finishing fifth in his age group at a Gravel World Series event in Hlinsko, Czech Republic, at the start of Formula 1’s summer shutdown. The Cadillac driver competed in the 131km race alongside partner Tiffany Cromwell and joked on Instagram: “Whilst the others are relaxing on their boats… Finished 5th in Men 35-39, and qualified for the gravel world champs.”
Honda chief engineer Shinharo Orihara said reports that Aston Martin’s latest power unit upgrade is worth as much as 50bhp are “not the real number”. Orihara said: "I want to have that number, but that is a quite big number. I can't describe the detail of power, but my feeling with that is just, no, I don't think… not the real number."
FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis has played down the idea of banning the “self-learning elements” in 2026 power units after Oscar Piastri complained at Spa that qualifying can be decided by “computers behaving or misbehaving”. Speaking to media including Motorsport.com, Tombazis said the frustration was “understandable” but argued removing such algorithms would be too simplistic, warning it would likely worsen clipping as drivers would “use all energy on corner exit” and then run out earlier on the straights. He added: “I don't think humans can rationally control all of these parameters.”
Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore says the team “have everything to win” but he does not understand why it is not beating McLaren and Ferrari, after pointing to its Mercedes engine partnership and capital expenditure investment in the factory. Briatore said: "We have everything to win. Because, you know, the agreement we've done with Mercedes is a super agreement, because we picked up the right partner. And we're investing in CapEx a lot of money in the factory. We have everything. We need to put the pieces together... But I'm sure this team, I don't know why we're not winning. I don't know why we don't beat McLaren. I don't know why we don't beat Ferrari."
Oscar Piastri says McLaren can make another big step forward this season to close its current performance gap. Piastri said: "We're under no illusions that we're lacking some performance, and we really want to chase it. We've got good ideas on how we can do it. And I think everybody's hungry to get back to where we have been and taste that success again."
Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache said the team’s current package has limitations around entry stability and mid-corner understeer, and that its early-season problems included a lack of load and mechanical issues that affected steering feel. Wache said: "Clearly, we have some limitations, like every racing car, in terms of stability on entry and mid-corner understeer, and we try to avoid those aspects by using some mechanical tools to achieve it. On your second question, regarding the issue with the car at the beginning, clearly we were missing some load compared to some others. We also had some mechanical gremlins on the car, which meant the driver didn't feel the car through the steering."
Mercedes deputy technical director Simone Resta said the team has deliberately paced its upgrades this season and is planning a “more sizeable” package after the summer shutdown. Resta said: "Ultimately, I think we tried to have strong development for the first race from the winter test. Then we have had, at almost every race, a little step here and there, and then another big step in Canada. Probably, after the shutdown, we will try to focus on having something more sizeable on the car."
Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord said Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s recovery from his 2025 mid-season slump came from finding a better way to prepare and a “reset” around the time of the Baku race. Lord said: "I think he's found the method that worked for him in order to get the most from the team, understand the effort that is needed ahead of the weekend in order to arrive prepared, because track time is such a scarce and valuable commodity. So it was a really useful reset around sort of Baku time [in 2025] for him to really double down - redouble his efforts with Bono [Peter Bonnington], with the rest of the team around him."
Honda trackside manager and chief engineer Shintaro Orihara said he is proud of the progress the manufacturer has made with Aston Martin’s power unit after its early-season vibration problems. Orihara said: "I'm proud of what we have achieved, and what our factory guys have achieved, from winter testing to now. We solved the big vibration issue, and we made big progress in terms of durability and energy management. So I'm quite confident about what we can achieve, based on what we have achieved this year."
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